Facebook creator donates to New Jersey schools

The latest article I read from the Chronicle of Philanthropy is this article by Maria Di Mento about a donation made by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg:

http://philanthropy.com/article/Facebook-s-CEO-Gives/124580/

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, will donate $100 million of his Facebook stock holdings to improve the Newark, New Jersey public school system. The author of the article points out that the donation may be in response to negative criticism Zuckerberg has received lately. Apparently the new movie "The Social Network" which will portray the founding of Facebook does not cast favorable light on Zuckerberg. Likewise, comments made by Zuckerberg about the effectiveness of companies versus nonprofits in solving society's problems were also not well received. The donation seems admirable but one must question the CEO's motives. Is Zuckerberg genuinely interested in investing in public education, or is he simply attempting to create a more postive image for himself?

I chose this article because I am a self-admitted Facebook addict. Normally I only log into the website to keep track of friends and post things relevant to my own personal life. I do not spend too much time worrying about Facebook's creator or what the company is doing other than changing the website's layout for the millionth time. When I am given information, though, about the inner workings of Facebook, I often find it surprising. I can spend hours on this website without caring about what sort of company I am indirectly supporting. The same goes for stores, restaurants and other companies I do business with regularly. I may get that warm fuzzy feeling when I hear that my favorite restaurant is donating money to a local hospital by selling one dollar pieces of paper to hang on the wall with my name on it, but I do think now that a little further investigation is necessary in some cases. Does this company truly care about this cause, or do they just need to fix a bad reputation? As someone who has an interest in nonprofits and many different causes, I do not want to be blindsighted into donating money simply to help improve a company's image. I am curious to find out what exactly Mark Zuckerberg's motives are.